15 Little Things to Start Doing Now if You Want to Be Ahead in Life in The Next 5 Years

#1. Ask

When in doubt, ask. When you lose your way around something, ask. When you need help, ask. When you can’t find your way home, ask. There is no shame in asking for help. It is not a crime to ask for guidance when you are not sure. Accept your weakness and acknowledge your limitations. Identify the right people who can give you the proper advice when you need it. Go to them and let them help you find your way.

#2. Don’t be an I-don’t-like-Reading Type of Person

A lot of people don’t like reading and it’s difficult finding your way around easily without a reading attitude. Books can change your life. You can read a book today and your perception of the world would change forever. It will change the way you think and even the way you perceive your environment. Read a lot. it doesn’t matter how long it takes to read a book, read it by all means

#3. Say Thank You

Saying thank you to people means you appreciate their effort in your life. People like to be appreciated. People feel good when they realize you’re thankful for the little things done for you. They will be ready to do more whenever you need it. Say thank you to the bus driver. Say thank you to the janitor. It’s not so much about what they’ve done. It’s about developing the habit of being thankful.

#4. Be Wise With Money

Save something. Learn to put 10% of your salary away. You won’t touch this. You put in an account where it would earn compound interest. In the years time, you would be glad you did. If you are wise with money—your money, it wouldn’t be long till you become rich.

#5. Do Something For Free

That’s how to create a network that really works. Being kind to people is never forgotten. It compounds. Someday when you least expected it, the people you helped will return the favor. Don’t do it for the payback. Do it because you want to. True kindness is therapeutic to your own heart. It makes the heart swells. It keeps the heart happy and it’s a huge investment into your future. People you’ve done something for become your friends. They form a network of people you can fall on.

#6. Be a Master of Something

You know the 10,000 rule right: To be a master of anything takes 10,000 hours of practice. Do whatever you want to master every day. Fail. Start again. Find mistakes and correct them. By all means, hit the 10,000 hours of practice. True wealth comes from mastery.

#7. Live For Today

I will narrow it and say, live for now. Only now. Everything in life happens now. Right at this very moment. Stop having regrets about yesterday. Nothing is happening there. Being anxious about the future is a waste of your time. Live for now. Now is the time something can happen. You can only change your life now.

#8. Be a Reason For Someone’s Smile

Life takes us through a lot of roughs. A lot of things steal our happiness away. Don’t be the thief of someone’s happiness. If you must steal something, succeed in stealing their sorrows. Make them laugh. Make people forget their troubles for a while. Put a flicker of laughter on their lips and you will never be forgotten. When you give people something their money cannot buy them, they are forever grateful to you. You gave them a priceless gift. They will feel indebted.

#9. Be Content With Less

Don’t invest in things you don’t have need of. A beautiful life is not about gathering and storing. It’s about having eyes for needful things. Some material things come with only a day’s joy but you have to pay a fortune for it. Avoid it if you can. Give what you don’t need away. If you haven’t used it for a year, you don’t need it. Give it away. Create a space in your life where you have enough of what you need and not what fills your ego.

#10. Be Around People Who Improve You

People are nice. People are beautiful. People are helpful. And they are ugly and can be toxic to your dreams. Choose people well. Choose friends very well. Be with those your spirit finds a home with. Find people who will bring dreams to your life and challenge you to accomplish more. People who dim your light; People who tell you your dreams are not valid; Those who only criticize you when you fail; Avoid them. Life is too short to spend it with the wrong people

#11. Learn To Sell Something or Sell Yourself

Selling is an art everyone needs to master. it’s not easy getting people to part with their hard-earned money. But we need to survive. We only can survive when we are able to sell what we have so we can buy what we don’t have. In the end, everyone is a salesperson—you sell a product or you hawk your services around. Every day we have to sell to others. To do it well, we need to master the art of selling. We will only get the right price when we are able to sell to people who have the need for what we sell. The need has to be created. We have to create that need.

#12. Learn To Say Sorry When You Are Wrong

When your actions or inactions rob someone in the wrong way, say sorry. Not sorry for sorry sake. I mean sorry that comes from the heart. It is not a sign of weakness to admit your mistakes and feel sorry for them. It is a sign of strength that emanates from consciousness. Don’t say sorry just to get by. People are no fools. They can detect when you are sorry at heart or just saying it. Be comfortable admitting your mistakes. Be comfortable saying sorry for them.

#13. Make Friends

Not just from your comfort zone. Make friends with people outside your world. Make friends with people who have different mindsets. It’s no gain to be friends with people who are just like yourself. It is a lot of gains to be around people who see the world in a different view than yourself. That way, you can only learn every day. Then you improve. Then you become better. Because you’re a version made from different sets of worldviews.

#14. Learn to be Alone a Lot of Times

This place is a noisy place. People are noisy. Opinions are shrilling to the ears. It is very easy to be drowned in the opinions of others. If you don’t take care, you’ll lose yourself. You will lose who you are because you listened and acted on the opinions of others. Find times. A lot of times to be alone. Ask yourself questions. Engage your own thoughts. Reflects on your situations. Take your own decisions. Don’t be scared to be alone. It’s when you are away from the noise that you can see clearly and guide your own thoughts to make the best of decisions.

#15. Take the Road Less Traveled

The fact that it is barren of footprints is a sign of opportunities. Don’t be scared to be different—to think different. Have the courage to live the way people are scared to live. Ultimately, you’ll live the way ordinary people can’t. It’s your life to live. Live it courageously.

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